An example of a heavily redacted page from the grand jury report investigating sexual abuse by priests in six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania.

An example of a heavily redacted page from the grand jury report investigating sexual abuse by priests in six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania. (Tim Darragh / The Morning Call)

Steve Esack and Peter HallOf The Morning Call

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will not make public the blacked-out names of priests implicated in a grand jury report on child sex abuse, ruling that keeping them secret is the only way to ensure their constitutional due process rights will be upheld.

The majority opinion, issued Monday, involved 11 clerics who challenged the validity of a report that labeled 301 clergymen as “predatory priests” who abused more than 1,000 children in six Catholic dioceses, including Allentown.

Instead of reporting pedophiles, dioceses routinely shuffled them from parish to parish, enabling them to prey upon new victims,...

The report was prepared by the state attorney general’s office after a two-year secret grand jury investigation that included scores of internal records taken, under subpoena, from the dioceses. Attorney General Josh Shapiro called on the state’s bishops to make the names public, saying: “Today’s order allows predator priests to remain in the shadows and permits the church to continue concealing their identities.”

Apparently anticipating that reaction, Justice Debra Todd wrote for the court majority: “We acknowledge that this outcome may be unsatisfying to the public and to the victims of the abuse detailed in the report. While we understand and empathize with these perspectives, constitutional rights are of the highest order, and even alleged sexual abusers, or those abetting them, are guaranteed by our commonwealth’s Constitution the right of due process.”

The ruling was narrowly tailored to deal only with the priests’ appeal. It did not throw out or rewrite the state’s grand jury act — as defense lawyers hoped and county prosecutors feared — as an unconstitutional prosecutorial tool that infringes on defendants’ rights to challenge their accusers in court. Rewriting the grand jury act, Todd wrote, would be the job of the Legislature.

Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor disagreed.

In his solo dissenting opinion, he wrote that the Supreme Court, not the Legislature, has sole discretion to rule in court matters. He said he would have granted the priests’ request to go back before the grand jury judge to hold new hearings challenging state prosecutors’ evidence against them. The priests, he said, are entitled to review and challenge some but not all of the evidence held by the prosecutors during a grand jury hearing.

Due process is a flexible concept, he wrote, so he “would authorize the supervising judge to make reasonable judgments concerning whether, and to what extent, petitioners would be permitted to review and test the evidence upon which the grand jurors relied.”

Matt Haverstick, a defense lawyer for the Harrisburg and Greenburg diocese who was not involved in the appeal, said the decision affirms the accused constitutional rights. “I read it as an invitation to the General Assembly to fix what is a broken grand jury statute,” he said.

Allentown Diocese spokesman Matt Kerr said he is not aware that any of the priests whose names were redacted were from the Allentown diocese.

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A statewide grand jury revealed 301 Pennsylvania priests accused of sexually abusing “thousands” of children in a 884-page report released Tuesday. Here's a look at the main points.

A statewide grand jury revealed 301 Pennsylvania priests accused of sexually abusing “thousands” of children in a 884-page report released Tuesday. Here's a look at the main points.

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A statewide grand jury revealed 301 Pennsylvania priests accused of sexually abusing “thousands” of children in a 884-page report released Tuesday. Here's a look at the main points.

A statewide grand jury revealed 301 Pennsylvania priests accused of sexually abusing “thousands” of children in a 884-page report released Tuesday. Here's a look at the main points.

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Victims of priest abuse react to the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report on abuse in six dioceses following a news conference with state Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. (Emily Opilo / The Morning Call)

Victims of priest abuse react to the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report on abuse in six dioceses following a news conference with state Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. (Emily Opilo / The Morning Call)

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Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro holds a news conference in Harrisburg on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, following the release of a statewide grand jury report on sexual abuse by priests in six dioceses, including Allentown. (Rick Kintzel / The Morning Call)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro holds a news conference in Harrisburg on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, following the release of a statewide grand jury report on sexual abuse by priests in six dioceses, including Allentown. (Rick Kintzel / The Morning Call)

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Full Video: Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, discusses the release of a grand jury report detailing priest sex abuse at dioceses across the state including Allentown.

Full Video: Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, discusses the release of a grand jury report detailing priest sex abuse at dioceses across the state including Allentown.

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In this video provided by the Diocese of Allentown, Bishop Alfred Schlert reads a statement reacting to the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy abuse in six dioceses, including Allentown.

In this video provided by the Diocese of Allentown, Bishop Alfred Schlert reads a statement reacting to the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy abuse in six dioceses, including Allentown.

“The diocese of Allentown did nothing to delay or block the report or to support anyone who tried to do so,” Kerr said.

Shapiro blasted the ruling, saying it plays favorites by ignoring some victims’ stories of abuse and protecting some accusers.

“I have consistently fought for the release of the entire, unredacted grand jury report into widespread sexual abuse and cover-up within the Pennsylvania Catholic Church,” he said in a statement.

“No one victim’s truth is any less important than another and no one’s criminal conduct any less loathsome,” Shapiro added. “While this order bars me from releasing the names of these 11 petitioners, nothing in this order prevents the dioceses from sharing the shielded names with their parishioners and the public. I call on the bishops to do so immediately, consistent with their recent calls for transparency.”

Most cases in the grand jury report, released Aug. 14, were too old to prosecute. It also described efforts by church officials to cover up allegations and discredit victims.

In response to the priests’ claims that releasing the report would unfairly damage their reputations, the Supreme Court in July ruled the Pennsylvania Constitution provides a right to due process for people implicated in wrongdoing as a result of grand jury investigations. It directed the priests’ attorneys and the attorney general's office to determine how to ensure that.

The court agreed to temporarily withhold the identities of priests whose lawyers say the report would “name and shame” them, violating their constitutional right to defend themselves in the process.

In arguing to make public the redacted names in the report, lawyers for the attorney general’s office said this investigation would be Pennsylvania's last if grand juries couldn’t name people not charged with crimes.

While the court ruling was pending, other states — and the federal government — have launched their own investigations into massive cover-ups in the Catholic Church. Pennsylvanian’s dioceses also announced plans to start victims’ compensation funds. And a bill died in the state Legislature to give victims older than 50 the right to sue their alleged abusers and their employers.

The ruling is disappointing, said Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, who testified before the grand jury and spoke before the House about how a priest abused him while he was growing up in Reading. He accused the justices of protecting the Catholic Church, saying he doubts the justices would taken up the case if it was not for the church’s deep pockets and political influence.

“It seems like protectionism,” Rozzi said. “These guys are backed by big money and big lawyers. This is how the system works.”

Todd wrote that the court understands and appreciates the monumental task grand jurors undertook examining the child sex abuse case. But she wrote it’s the court’s job to protect the Constitution.

“As the chief justice [Saylor] wrote in our earlier opinion, the grand jury ‘undertook the salutary task of exposing alleged child sexual abuse and concealment of such abuse, on an extraordinarily large scale,’” Todd wrote. “We recognize and appreciate the importance of the grand jury’s efforts. Nevertheless, as the highest Court in this commonwealth, it is our obligation to guard against constitutional infringements.”